Diesel prices squeeze truckers, towns

James Luke gets four miles to the gallon when his truck is fully loaded, and with prices of diesel fuel pumped up to $4.15 a gallon, he said he's ready to pack it in.

Kathy Uek

James Luke gets four miles to the gallon when his truck is fully loaded, and with prices of diesel fuel pumped up to $4.15 a gallon, he said he's ready to pack it in.

"I can't make any money," the owner-operator truck driver said Sunday at the Massachusetts Turnpike Service Station at Rte. 128 in Weston. "I won't tell you no lie. I left Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday night and stopped for gas in Indiana, Ohio and New Jersey, and paid a total of $1,600."

After the Georgia native pays about $1 per mile for diesel and expenses including his cab, insurance, motels, and food, there isn't much left over to pay the rent, said the 64-year-old. "It's better to draw on Social Security and get about $960 a month. It costs $2,500 one way to drive to California."

Luke's 137 gallon tank is half full - and he has to be in Pembroke, N.J., Monday at 4 a.m. to make a meat delivery.

Delivery vehicles, buses, trains, boats, barges, and farm, construction, military vehicles and equipment have diesel engines, according to the Energy Information Administration Web site, which provides information from the Department of Energy (www.eia.doe.gov.).

With the price of diesel fuel at $4.05 this week, many are feeling the pinch at the pump.

Natick's Public Works Director Charlie Sisitsky said most of the town trucks use diesel. "The price of diesel has had a big impact," he said. "It especially impacts the snow budget - all the plows and sanders - about 30 - use diesel and we've had a lot of storms. It also affects fire trucks. We provide fuel for all the town's fleet."

Fortunately Ed Carr, administrator for the MetroWest Transit Authority, says the vehicles do not use that much diesel. The authority has 15 buses and five of them use diesel. Carr tries to conserve by using gas-fueled buses. "It's a management issue," said Carr. "You try to do the best you can with what you have."

Full-serve regular unleaded gas this week, according to AAA, averaged $3.24 per gallon.

"We try to get more people moved with the same amount of fuel," said Carr. "With more people on the bus, it lowers the price of gas per person."

As fuel prices go up, Carr has noticed an increase in ridership on scheduled routes from Framingham to Milford and Marlborough. "All these buses can get a lot of people to work," he said.

For the fifth week in a row, according to the Energy Information Administration, the average retail diesel price continued its rapid ascent. And for the fourth consecutive week, the average U.S. price for retail diesel reached an all-time high. On the East Coast, the average price shot up by 161/2 cents to $4.04 per gallon - $1.37 per gallon higher than last year.

Darci Sinclair, a spokeswoman for Shell Oil Company, said "Shell recognizes that customers are concerned and affected by the costs of fuel and the company has launched a global initiative called FuelStretch (www.shell.com/us/fuelstretch) to help drivers get the most out of every purchase."

Gasoline prices are determined by the marketplace, said Sinclair, as well as other factors: competition, supply availability, fluctuating price of crude and global demand, to name a few.

"We need a diverse energy portfolio in the future, which will require conservation of energy, education, good policy at the federal level, a way to address greenhouse gas emission and a broad look at the energy issues the country is facing," said Sinclair. For more information, visit www.usenergysecurity.shell.com.

Thinking back to 1973, when Luke first started driving, he made a good living. Diesel cost 75 to 90 cents a gallon, as he remembers. Even last year Luke was able to pay his bills. "I liked it," he said. "I was making good money, but now I can't survive."

Luke expects the premium cost of diesel will put a lot of independents like him out of business.

Phillip Chavez, who works for Shaffer Trucking, agreed. "The owner-operators are taking the pinch," said Chavez. "A lot of them are parking their trucks. They can't afford the fuel. The prices have already affected the grocery stores."

For Chavez, whose company pays him 43 cents a mile to deliver refrigerated items such as Hersey's chocolates and M&Ms, says he has to drive about 2,500 to 3,000 miles a week to make any money. "Right now it's OK," he said.

But freight is slow. "I've been waiting for a load since Friday," said the 43-year-old Chavez, who just got a call to take a load Monday morning from Mansfield to Brown Summit, N.C.

The Texas native thinks Wal-Mart accounts for some of the decline in freight traffic. "They were expecting the hike in fuel, so they fully stocked their warehouses," he said. "People are playing games."

While Chavez waits for Monday, he stays in the "condo" in his cab outfitted with a bed, a television and refrigerator. "Three days is the most I've sat," said Chavez.

If diesel prices continue to rise, Luke plans to move from his rented home in New York and haul wood chips three or four times a day between his home in Augusta, Ga., and the International Paper plant in Georgia.

"I can make the 60- to 70-mile trip easily and be home at night and spend time with my family," said Luke.